Digging Out

County Commissioner Fred Perry discusses recovery efforts in Tulsa County

KWGS photo

By KWGS News

Tulsa, OK – Mayor Bartlett, County Commissioner Fred Perry, the City of Tulsa, Tulsa County, Tulsa Police and Fire, Tulsa County Sheriff's Department and all other social service agencies met to discuss all operational planning for the upcoming winter storm predicted to hit Tulsa this weekend and early next week. At this time, the Tulsa Emergency Operations Center is not activated but has implemented a planning unit including representatives of all agencies and departments to help keep resources/information readily available.

Mayor Bartlett encouraged Tulsans who have ventured out today to take extra time and precautions. He said 4-wheel drive vehicles are doing the best in these conditions and it's best to keep others off the road and stay home.

Street Update

Public Works crews are continuing to focus on the arterial street systems, streets near schools and downtown so roads are passable. Crews have plowed all major arterials and put salt down on bridges and plowed streets to help when temperatures drop. City of Tulsa Public Works street crews are remaining on 12-hour shifts. The City of Tulsa still has 7,000 tons of salt remaining in the City's two street maintenance yards. Public Works has been working with the following equipment for snow removal and will continue the process around the clock with:

o 55 truck-mounted sand-salt spreaders

o 38 truck-mounted snow plows

o 4 motor graders for use as plows

o 1 truck-mounted liquid de-icer spraying units

o 150 employees

The spreaders are assigned to 35 specific routes totaling 1,750 lane-miles. Spreading and plowing routes are prioritized based on traffic counts. There are 118 secondary arterials. These streets are in neighborhoods and run the length of a square mile, between arterial roadways. Crews divided the city into west, central and east sections, and began clearing in the most populated areas within each section first.

Police/Fire Safety/EMSA

The Tulsa Police Department is fully staffed and still operating under Operation Slick Streets and only responding to injury collisions. TPD has had a consistent amount of calls and remaining fully staffed to respond to those emergency situations.

The Tulsa Fire Department is continuing to drive down residential neighborhoods and secondary arterials to pack snow on streets. Calls continue to remain high and TFD continues to work with EMSA to help transport citizens.

Public safety patrols will continue to use their "tape" process to identify if stranded vehicles have been attended to:

The Tulsa Red Cross has closed their two warming stations but on standby if they need to activate due to additional snow that Tulsa is expected to have.

Transit

Tulsa Transit is continuing to run limited service on all daytime fixed routes except routes 471 and 118. Service is not running on the regular schedules due to the reduced number of vehicles and the condition of the streets. Transit has retrieved most of the buses that got stuck on Tuesday, but there are still nine buses stuck around town. Five of these buses will require a large wrecker and we are waiting on one to become available. Lift Service is limited to dialysis patients only, and will continue through the weekend. The nighttime service is not running tonight or over the weekend. The Information line for Tulsa transit is 582-2100 or more information can be found at www.tulsatransit.org.

EMSA, Tulsa Police and Fire Departments and Sherriff's Department have all helped with the transport of emergency dialysis patients. If dialysis patients need assistance or arrange a ride, they need to continue to contact their health provider.

EMSA crews are remaining on 12-hour shifts and have kept all ambulances in-service.

Airport/Facilities

The current precipitation is not impacting flight operations at Tulsa International Airport. Flights continue to operate as scheduled and the runway surface remains in good condition with airport officials monitoring it closely. Jones Riverside Airport is also open.

The Tulsa City-County Library Central and Regional locations will be closed on Saturday and Sunday (Feb, 5 & 6). Staff will evaluate opening the Central and Regional Libraries for Monday Feb. 7, on Sunday, Feb. 6).

Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency

All department agencies are continuing to monitor personnel, materials and equipment costs as disaster declarations have been made in the City of Tulsa and State of Oklahoma. Agencies monitor costs so FEMA reimbursements can be made in the future. After the 2007 ice storm, the City of Tulsa received $22million and from the 2009 snow storm, Tulsa received $1.2 million. If FEMA reimbursements are made, we are estimating that the city would not receive funding for six to eight months.

Citizens can continue to follow updates on City services by following the City at www.cityoftulsa.org, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cityoftulsa and Twitter at www.twitter.com/cityoftulsagov.